This is more of a rant than anything, so bear with me. Microsoft recently overhauled their Microsoft Security Essentials website. And normally a website redesign is nothing more than a small part of a larger marketing campaign to refresh a brand identity, but in this case, I think Microsoft dropped the ball. You can’t just make a radical sweeping visual change to your anti-virus software website at the drop of a hat. With the amount of phishing websites out there, and browser hijacks which redirect unsuspecting Internet surfers to illegitimate versions of trusted websites, I find it astounding, and appalling that Microsoft would completely overhaul their Microsoft Security Essentials website without any notice whatsoever. In fact, Microsoft should be even more wary of massive branding changes especially in light of recent rouge versions of MSE which looked very much like the genuine article. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for category FYI
Mar 31
MSE Website Redesign: A Rant
Or – More information than you probably care to know about wireless networks.
Google shows how far it will go for a complete database. Street View drives take on the Dalton Highway. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
http://jalopnik.com/5723695/drive-to-the-arctic-circle-with-google-street-view
Skype apparently is having a widespread (read global) outage. So, don’t worry, it is probably not just you. No official ETA for restoration of power.
Update: Skype seems to have identified what caused the outage today, and they are working to restore full service for all Skype users. Skype explains more in their blog. Skype isn’t fully back yet, so sit tight!
“4G” is the new hot term among cell phone providers, and has recently been all over the media as the carriers vie for your money business. 4G is basically a reference to the next generation (currently 3G) of cell network technology, which provides greater bandwidth for mobile devices. The term “4G” is more of a marketing ploy than a technical reference since none of the networks offer true 4G bandwith capability. Each of the major carriers is expanding or will be launching their own versions of 4G over the next several months. Read the rest of this entry »

